208 research outputs found
Probiotic properties of the riboflavin producing Lactobacillus fermentum strain isolated from yoghurt sample
Get PDFThe probiotic properties of the riboflavin producing lactic acid bacterium, Lactobacillus fermentum MTCC 8711 were evaluated. The strain was resistant to the acidic environment with the pH of 3.5 and more than 100% survivability of the cells was observed after 4 h. Similarly, 85% survivability was observed in the presence of 0.3% (w/v) bile salts. The strain exhibited β- galactosidase activity by blue colored colony formation in the MRS agar plates with X-gal and IPTG. Further, it was found to be a medium acidifier with a DpH value of 0.96 after 5 h of growth. The strain was also able to reduce the cholesterol up to 50% in the presence of cholesterol and bile salts. Since the strain possesses the basic properties of the probiotics and produces riboflavin, it could be considered as a better starter culture in the fermented food industry. Probiotic properties of the riboflavin producing Lactobacillus fermentum strain isolated from yoghurt sampleS. Jayashree*, K. Jayaraman and G. KalaichelvanSchool of Biosciences and Technology, VIT University, Vellore-632 014, Tamil Nadu, India*Corresponding Author, Email: [email protected]; Phone- 91-416-220- 2901; Fax- 91-416-224-3092Cite This Article as: S. Jayashree, K. Jayaraman and G. Kalaichelvan. 2010. Probiotic properties of the riboflavin producing Lactobacillus fermentum strain isolated from yoghurt sample. J. Ecobiotechnol. 2(2): 11-16.ÂÂ
Shoulder pain in manual wheelchair users: towards a multi-disciplinary solution for a multi-faceted problem
Get PDFIt is estimated that there are over 2 million manual wheelchair users in the United States. Up to 70% of manual wheelchair users report upper limb pain, which is mainly manifested in the shoulder and wrist. Shoulder pain in wheelchair users is linked to difficulty performing activities of daily living, decreased physical activity and decreased quality of life.
The main focus of this dissertation is to identify biomarkers from wheelchair propulsion data that are potentially related to shoulder pain in manual wheelchair users. Three biomarkers that distinguish between manual wheelchair users with and without shoulder pain are identified. The acceptability of the identified biomarkers are subjected to hypothesis testing using data collected from a sample of 30 experienced adult manual wheelchair users with and without shoulder pain. The results and their implications will be discussed. In this dissertation we will also discuss the interpretation and the physical significance of each of the results, a summary of limitations for the approaches adopted, and suggestions on the future course of research to address these limitations.
While the past two decades of research on shoulder pain and wheelchair propulsion has led to the development of important clinical guidelines, it has failed to identify specific biomarkers that may be related to shoulder pain in manual wheelchair users. This could be in part due to employing a binary approach by focusing on just (1) the pure bio-mechanical aspects, and (2) wheelchair design aspects (ergonomics). The originality of this dissertation is in the adoption of a multidisciplinary approach. Methodologies integrating theories and analyses from fields related to human movement science such as human motor control theory, non-linear dynamics and human factors (occupational ergonomics) are adopted to identify potential biomarkers that relate to shoulder pain in manual wheelchair users.
This dissertation concludes with preliminary results from a prototype wearable device, custom developed for manual wheelchair users. Wheelchair propulsion data obtained from the device will be benchmarked with data from the currently available technologies for tracking manual wheelchair propulsion (SMARTWheel and motion capture). This dissertation also proposes a framework for incorporating the research findings into the custom developed wearable technology for home-based rehabilitation training purposes.Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2017-12-01The student, Chandrasekaran Jayaraman, accepted the attached license on 2015-11-13 at 12:03.The student, Chandrasekaran Jayaraman, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2015-11-13 at 14:43.This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2015-11-17 at 16:18.DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #8782 on 2016-03-02 at 14:13:03Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-02T21:06:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2
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Development and eruption of human teeth in the Chinese population: a comprehensive dental atlas
No full textAimThe first comprehensive chart on dental development was published 75 years ago based on Caucasian children and this has been used as a standard dental chart to date. Few population specific charts have been developed recently and updated dental charts on modern subjects can provide more information on dental development patterns. This study aims to construct a comprehensive dental atlas for modern Chinese children and young adults to assist in clinical, forensic, and public health applications.MethodsThe study sample comprised of 2,306 subjects, age ranging from 2 to 24 years belonging to Chinese ethnicity. Dental formation and eruption of permanent teeth and resorption of primary teeth were analyzed separately for females and males. For each age range, the number of teeth (n), and the stage of development was calculated for first (Q1), second (Q2) and third quartiles (Q3). Similar analysis was performed for the position of permanent teeth and the resorption of primary teeth. To determine the variations between the sex, Mann-Whitney U-test was conducted by comparing the median (Q2) stages.ResultsVariations in dental formation and eruption of permanent teeth and resorption of primary teeth were observed between maxillary and mandibular dentitions and between the sex, however the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.535 to p = 1.000). The dental atlas was presented separately for Chinese females and males.ConclusionThis atlas on modern Chinese population serves as a practical tool to assist in clinical diagnosis and treatment planning, in forensic investigations as well as indicators of developments in public health
Dental age assessment of Southern Chinese using Demirjian's dataset and the United Kingdom dataset
No full textpublished_or_final_versionPaediatric DentistryMasterMaster of Dental Surger
Corrigendum: Development and eruption of human teeth in the Chinese population: a comprehensive dental atlas
No full textGuidelines for reporting randomized controlled trials in paediatric dentistry based on the CONSORT statement
No full textDental age assessment (DAA) : development and validation of reference dataset for southern Chinese and its application to East Asian populations
No full textAge assessment which is an integral part of forensic and clinical practice when assessed using the extent of dental development has proven to be more accurate than other methods. Variations in dental development have necessitated the construction of ethnic specific reference datasets (RDS) to ensure accurate age assessments. Age estimated from ethnically different RDS in southern Chinese subjects has been shown to be inaccurate. A systematic review and meta-analysis from the most commonly used French-Canadian dataset revealed consistent over-estimations of age of global population groups, inferring the need for population specific RDS. A study which compared a group of 400 five years old children born in the 1980s and the 2000s demonstrated that children born in recent decades have more advanced dental development. Hence, only the most recent samples were included in the construction of a RDS for southern Chinese using dental panoramic radiographs of 2306 subjects.
The reference dataset was subsequently validated on 484 subjects of southern Chinese origin by conducting dental age assessments (DAA) using un-weighted and weighted methods of dental age calculations. Paired t-test demonstrated that all methods of assessments were able to accurately estimate the age (p>0.05). The overall age differences ranged from -0.01 to 0.11 years for males and -0.03 to 0.10 years for females respectively. In addition, to test the accuracy of different ethnic datasets, 266 southern Chinese subjects for whom age had been estimated using the UK Caucasian and French-Canadian datasets were re-scored using the southern Chinese RDS. The latter was able to estimate the age of 80% of the subjects within a range of 12 months and the importance of population specific reference standards was elucidated. The validated southern Chinese RDS on dental development can thus be used to estimate the age of children and young adults of southern Chinese origin. This RDS was also tested for applicability on the records of 953 subject obtained from Japan, Thailand and Philippines. A similar method of validation was conducted and the southern Chinese RDS estimated the age of Thai males, Filipino and Japanese subjects with a reasonable degree of accuracy. The genetic similarity between the southern Han Chinese and the other East Asian population groups may account for the obtained accuracy.
The secular trend study was the first of its kind study in Asia that demonstrated advanced dental maturation in children born in recent decades. Natural calamities that strike East Asia leave thousands of people missing. In those circumstances, dental age assessment using the southern Chinese RDS would help in the process of identifying deceased victims. Furthermore, only half of the children in the world below the age of five years are registered; thus the need for determining age is of foremost importance to safeguard them against age specific crimes. Methods of establishing reference datasets and conducting accurate age assessments that have been investigated and tested in this study indicate that the methodology can be applied to any ethnic population group in the world.published_or_final_versionPaediatric DentistryDoctoralDoctor of Philosoph
Object localization using passive RFID tags:
No full textPassive radio frequency identification (RFID) systems are revolutionizing the indoor positioning and tracking applications. There has been substantial research on practical applications of this technology and hospitals especially trauma care units are one such area where this capability can lead to improved workflow. Our system uses the Alien RFID reader and the “Squiggle” passive RFID tags to create an effective solution for tracking various medical items. Based on the Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) value of the tags, we developed a localization algorithm which uses a neural network estimator to estimate the distances of the tags. To reduce the effect of noise in the RSSI values received from the reader, we accumulate data over a period of time, remove the outliers and the average the remaining RSSI values. The RSSI based estimation algorithm provides very accurate estimation when the spatial density of tags is low (about 25 tags per square meter). To improve the localization accuracy at higher spatial densities we augmented the RSSI method of estimating distances by using the number of times the tags were read or the “read-count”. We also investigated how different types of occluding materials affect the localization accuracy. Metal and Humans also can cause complete occlusion when the positioned in direct line of sight between the antenna and the tag. To overcome human based occlusion, we placed an additional ceiling mounted antenna per 10 m2. This intervention makes possible the detection (but not localization) of tags when the vertical field of view is not occluded. We also studied the effect of the material to which the tags are attached and determined the effects on localization accuracy.
The software system developed using Java is designed in a modular fashion and provides interfaces to tools like Matlab so that it is easy to experiment to various other localization algorithms. We also developed an intuitive User Interface to display the locations of tags and the associated items. Once a tag is identified its associated description can be looked up in a computer database and this also can be displayed in the user interface.M.S.Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-70)by Ramprabhu Jayarama
Some New Higher Order Weighted Newton Methods for Solving Nonlinear Equation with Applications
No full textThree new iterative methods for solving scalar nonlinear equations using weight function technique are presented. The first one is a two-step fifth order method with four function evaluations which is improved from a two-step Newton’s method having same number of function evaluations. By this, the efficiency index of the new method is improved from 1.414 to 1.495. The second one is a three step method with one additional function evaluation producing eighth order accuracy with efficiency index 1.516. The last one is a new fourth order optimal two-step method with efficiency index 1.587. All these three methods are better than Newton’s method and many other equivalent higher order methods. Convergence analyses are established so that these methods have fifth, eighth and fourth order respectively. Numerical examples ascertain that the proposed methods are efficient and demonstrate better performance when compared to some equivalent and optimal methods. Seven application problems are solved to illustrate the efficiency and performance of the proposed methods
Erratum to: Some Higher Order Newton-Like Methods for Solving System of Nonlinear Equations and Its Applications
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